Editorial: Media access pending

Cardinal Points was denied media access to presidential candidate Donald Trump’s rally held last Friday, April 15, at the Plattsburgh Crete Center.

After following proper procedure in a timely manner to request said access, CP editors’ status is still “pending” on Trump’s official campaign website, according to staff report “CP overlooked.”

The day of the rally, with their unanswered request, the editor in chief contacted Kathryn Wellner to inquire a response, according to the report.

“‘I do not have either of you on my credential media list and won’t be able to give credentials to this event today,’ Wellner said in an email,” the report stated.

But why? CP is still unsure as to why it was denied access to the presidential rally.

As the outlet for Plattsburgh State news, CP circulates all over campus and many locations uptown and downtown. It is not only a newspaper for the students and campus community, it is a newspaper for the city and town of Plattsburgh and its residents. This was some of the biggest news the area has seen since the Dannemora prison escape that should get the attention any other news story would.

As other media outlets in the area were granted this access, according to the report, CP editors and staff feel they have been wronged to not get the same treatment.
Not only was CP denied an explanation, editors and other staff feel they were denied a learning experience. It would have been an event that they could have said they got to cover as media, alongside local, regional or even national platforms, which is not a circumstance where student writers normally see themselves.

It would have been easy to give five editors of local media access to see Trump speak, but for reasons unknown to CP, they were not given that opportunity.